The Ministry of Lands and Housing is responsible for all matters concerning land and housing in Botswana. The Ministry is tasked to put in place policies and initiate laws responsible for sustainable land management aimed at promoting sustainable housing for all. Gender inequalities are prevalent in housing and security of tenure. For example, women as a group are widely marginalized by administrative institutions in respect of land, property and inheritance. Women are systematically excluded from decision-making and control over household resources. This has a historical dimension where access to land and property predominantly has been a male domain. As a result women have been denied access, ownership and right to property and inheritance. There is also an increasing awareness that land reforms, land titling, and land administration are not gender neutral interventions. The impact of gender has to be considered on the basis of a specific analysis, since relationships are largely determined by local conditions and are context specific. Land rights are a key development issue and are very crucial in the Government’s strategy to fight poverty. Without secure rights to land women’s ability and incentive to participate in income expanding economic activities is impaired, since, for example, they are not able to control the income from farming activities and make decisions on land use. The Government of Botswana recognizes the need to create and nurture a conducive environment where women, men, girls and boys work as partners, complementing each other in their effort to reduce poverty so as to live in dignity and uphold the rights of all. It is therefore based upon this that the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs through the Gender Affairs Department seeks to engage a suitably qualified consultant with relevant skills, expertise and experience in gender to carry out a gender mainstreaming process at the Ministry of Lands and Housing. |
